Billy
Rocket Internet cloned eBay and sold it back in 90 days
Sam marvels at Rocket Internet, the German brothers who scaled multiple companies to $300-400M in sales in two years and famously cloned eBay then sold the clone back to eBay in 90 days for $50 million.
“Two or three brothers who scale rapidly, like they've scaled multiple companies to like $300, $400 million in sales in literally two years. One, they cloned eBay and sold it back to eBay in 90 days for $50 million. So just like crazy intense.”
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Samwer brothers cloned eBay and sold it back in 90 days for $50M
Sam cites the Samwer brothers (Rocket Internet), who cloned eBay in Germany and sold it back to eBay in 90 days for $50 million, as proof that 'silly' constrained money questions can have real answers if you're willing to pay the price.
“So for example, The Samwer brothers, they own Rocket Internet. They cloned eBay but in Germany and sold it back to eBay in 90 days for $50 million. And I think that if someone wanted to say, I'm going to abandon my family, I'm going to abandon my health, I'm going to abandon my friends, and I'm only going to do something for 6 months, I think they'd be shocked at what can happen.”
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Moons: 'Smile Direct became a billion-dollar company in 5 years, we'll do it in 4'
Sam praises Moons, a YC company cloning Smile Direct Club for Latin America, whose founders came from Rocket Internet (notorious for cloning and scaling proven models). Their deck's boldness — promising to hit a billion-dollar valuation faster than the original — is what won him over.
“In one of their decks, they go, Smile Direct Club became a billion-dollar company in 5 years. We're gonna do it in 4. And I looked up the people behind it, and the people behind it previously worked at Rocket Internet, which is notorious for cloning companies and scaling them in different industries, or, uh, cloning like Amazon but for Thailand or something.”
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Rocket Internet's origin: clone eBay at 22, sell for $50M in 90 days
Sam recounts how Ali Samwer, after a month at Stanford, cloned eBay at age 22 and sold it for $50 million within 90 days, used the proceeds to clone a ringtone company (sold for $200-300M), then rolled the winnings into the Berlin-based clone factory Rocket Internet, which copied US startups worldwide.
“When he was 22, he cloned eBay. In 90 days, they sold it for $50 million. I believe they used that money to clone a ringtone company, sold that after 3 years, maybe for $200 or $300 million. And then they used all their winnings to turn it into a clone factory called Rocket Internet.”
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Rocket Internet's brutal culture: fire every C player, then fire the firer
Sam relays a Rocket Internet legend: a Samwer brother gathered 20 of his portfolio CEOs in Asia, had a man in the next room phone-fire every C-player on command, and when that man finished the firing spree and walked back in, told him 'now you're fired' too. The anecdote captures the firm's operationally excellent but ruthless reputation.
“I have him firing on the phone every C player right and then the guy who's in the other room making the phone calls gets done firing the people, walks in the room, and the guy goes, "All right, now you're fired."”